


Neighbours

by Bittodeath



Series: The Eruris (Tumblr Weeks, AUs and Canonverse) [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Awkward Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Awkwardness, Cat, Cute, M/M, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), POV Third Person Limited, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Prompt, dad erwin, kid Eren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7537504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittodeath/pseuds/Bittodeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Apparently your kid scaled my backyard fence to pet my cat and now I have a scared kid crying for their parent and a freaked out cat in a tree"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neighbours

It was Levi’s cleaning day, and he had just finished vacuuming his home when he heard the cries. A child’s cries. At first, he only grumbled about “shitty kids crying already”, but when the crying didn’t stop, he listened more closely. And the crying was definitely _way to close_ to his house. Setting down his cleaning stuff, he walked out through the bay windows, to discover an apocalyptic scene.

His neighbour’s kid – at least, he was almost sure it was his neighbour’s – was sitting on the ground in the middle of crushed flowers and broken flower pots, crying his eyes out, all red and snotty and just _disgusting_. And up the cherry tree, his cat was mewling, frightened and unable to come down.

“Bumblebee!” Levi cried out, rushing to the tree.

The brat screamed louder – he was about four and calling for his dad and why the fuck was he so _loud?_ Levi stopped, pondered his options and settled for getting his cat down and then take care of the child. Or the contrary. Sighing, he hauled up the kid sitting in the middle of sharp pieces of flower pots and set his down next to his bay window, where he would be safe.

Swiftly, he climbed up the tree, took his cat down – poor Bumblebee dug her claws in his arms and he hissed – and watched it race to the house where it hid under his bed. At least, his cat was safe. He then went to the kind, circling it cautiously. Those things were dangerous, and this one was an ambulant bomb with all those _germs_ and oh God this kid was so _gross_.

“What the hell am I supposed to do now? I don’t even know where you come from!”

And the kid kept crying and crying, and finally Levi gave up, hands held up.

“Alright, alright! I’ll go find your dad, but first we’ll get you clean.” He squatted. “How about bread with chocolate? Would you like that?” Damn, he wasn’t used to speak in such a gentle and soothing voice.  
“I wa-ant my-y da-ad” the kid cried, smearing snot on his face. Levi winced. Disgusting.  
“We’ll get your dad, okay? But first, you have to get clean.”

He grabbed the kid under his arms, holding it away from him and putting it directly in the bathtub. The child was covered in dirt, his clothes ripped – he probably had crawled under the fence to get in the backyard – and was a complete disaster. And he was _still crying_.

“Oi”, Levi said as he poured water on him, “stop it right now.”

Miraculously, it worked. The child immediately stopped crying and stared at him with his wide green eyes. Levi smiled.

“That’s better. What’s your name?” he asked gently, stripping the kid out of his ruined clothes and cleaning all the dirt he had on him – and God the kid was dirt black and the water was pouring grey.  
“Eren”, the kid answered as Levi wiped his face.  
“Okay Eren”, he answered, grabbing a towel and draping it over the child. “My name is Levi. We’ll go to get your dad together, okay?”  
“Okay”, Eren nodded, sniffling.

Levi grabbed a sweater a bit small for him and put it on Eren – there was no way the kid could move with that, but he couldn’t let him roam around butt naked, could he? Eren held out his arms to him and, sighing, Levi took him in his arms. Funny how a kid could be so warm. He caught himself smiling.

“Do you want to eat a little something while I search for your dad? Where do you live?”  
“Here”, Eren said, pointing at the house next to Levi’s.

Levi sat the kid at the kitchen table, carefully washed, peeled and cut an apple that he set down in front of Eren and ruffled his hair.

“Don’t move, okay? I’ll go tell your dad you’re here.”

Eren nodded, chewing happily on his piece of apple, and Levi exited through the front door.

 

“EREN! EREN WHERE ARE YOU?!”

That was what Levi called a booming voice. The man was obviously panicked, eyes searching the street for his kid. He was tall and blond, broad shouldered and Levi knew he probably saw him at some point through the curtains.

“Excuse me”, he called to the man. “Are you Eren’s father?”

The man whipped around, ran to him and started to shake him.

“Have you seen him?! I left him to play in the garden to check on the food and when I came back he wasn’t there anymore! Please tell me you know where he is!”

Levi seethed and pushed him away. And _oh_ his neighbour was actually _hot?!_ How come he hadn’t see him before?!

“Stop shaking me like a plum tree! Your kid is in my home eating an apple, calm down!”

The man stepped away, his posture slumping when he learnt his kid was safe.

“Thank God he’s alright…”  
“Actually he scared the hell out of my cat and made a battlefield out of my garden. And he also torn his clothes and probably rolled in dirt.”  
“I’m sorry he caused you so much trouble”, the man said.  
“Well then come get him before he escapes again.”

He guided the worried father to his house. As soon as Eren spotted his father, he jumped down the chair and ran to him – or rather, tried. His feet caught in the sweater, he lamely collapsed on the tiles. There was a moment of silence during which both men stared at the fallen child, and Eren started to open his mouth.

“No no no no no”, Levi whispered as he rushed to him and picked him up. “Don’t cry. It’s nothing. You didn’t hurt yourself, did you? Don’t cry, okay? Please just don’t cry.”

Eren choked on a sob, buried his face in Levi’s neck and started to wail. _Loudly_. Levi turned to stare at his neighbour with wide, frightened eyes. There was a kid yelling in his arms and _what was he supposed to do?_ The blond man looked at them for a second, and burst out laughing. Levi only frowned harder as he tried to rock the kid – well more like shaking him until Eren hiccupped instead of crying, and his father only laughed harder, before wiping his tears and holding his hands out for his kid. He cradled Eren to his chest, gently lulling him until he calmed down and fell asleep.

“Thank you for taking care of him. I’ll pay for any damage he did to your garden; it is a pity to see that when it was so beautiful…”

Levi shook his head.

“Your kid is safe and back to you, that’s all that matters.”  
“I insist.” The man looked at his kid and flapped one of the sleeves around, chuckling. “Is that your sweater? Why is he wearing your clothes?”  
“Levi bathed me with my clothes on”, Eren replied in a sleepy voice, his green eyes staring at his father. “It was funny.”

The two adults exchanged a look and Levi felt his breath catch in the back of his throat. God his neighbour was beautiful. The blond man extended a hand and cleared his throat.

“By the way, my name is Erwin Smith. Nice to meet you.”

Levi awkwardly shook his hand.

“Levi Ackerman”, he answered. “Nice to meet you too.”  
“Would you… would you like to come over for dinner?” Erwin asked, shifting his grip on his sleepy son. “It’s just Eren and me but I really want to thank you for what you did and… I’ll cook lasagnas?”

He looked so flustered Levi wanted to laugh. Instead, he smiled softly and nodded – was he actually agreeing to come out of his home? Wow.

“Okay”, he answered softly. “I’ll be there.”

 

Erwin left with Eren and Levi found himself alone. The same as usual. Why the hell had he agreed to this dinner?! Erwin was just being nice and thanking him and in return he was hitting on him?

But when it was time he found himself at Erwin’s door with a cake – apple-pie to be precise – smiling like a dork at the thought of his beautiful neighbour. Okay maybe not _smiling_ exactly but he wasn’t _frowning_. That was a big step. He knocked at the door and heard Erwin yell a “coming!” and soon the door opened and it smelled really nice and- Erwin was wearing an apron. A ridiculous apron with a drawing sewed on it – it was a child’s drawing representing “dad” with bright yellow hair and voluminous eyebrows and “me” with a toothy grin.

And Levi laughed. Earnestly, from the bottom of his stomach, like he hadn’t laughed for years. Finally, he managed to calm down and Erwin was staring at him.

“I-I’m sorry it’s the apron” he stifled a laugh, “it’s too cute”, he laughed again.  
“God you’re really beautiful when you smile”, Erwin said, awestruck.

Levi stopped dead in his tracks, and he felt himself blush – he had never blushed in his life and here he was, tomato red just because his dumbly beautiful neighbour complimented him.

“Y-You’re not too bad yourself”, he heard himself say, and that was _definitely_ not what he wanted to say, why were his social skills so _awful?_

But Erwin smiled and let him in, and though the dinner was simple it was good and Levi realized he actually liked being around Erwin and his kid.

And that’s the story of how Levi Ackerman met his terrible-but-so-damn-beautiful neighbour. (And it took time but finally Levi moved in the house with blue shutters and red tiles with Bumblebee, Erwin kept wearing his ridiculously cute apron and Eren kept scaring Bumblebee every time he tried to pet her.)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't know I needed this until I wrote it. As usual, don't hesitate to comment and tell me what you think, either here or on my tumblr (and yes, I accept requests!)


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